| I ran through the front door, my nose red from the cold, and
my arms wrapped around
my body, trying to keep warm. I let out a cold breath,
one last puff of white air coming
out of my mouth. When I inhaled again, a few
seconds later, I was welcomed by warm
air going into my lungs. I moved my arms
from around myself and closed the door behind
me. Then, I moved my hands to
unzip the black leather coat I was wearing and let it slide
off my shoulders,
revealing my tight-fitting, striped grey and blue sweater. I dropped the
coat
on a hook hanging on the wall by the door and pulled the long sleeves of my
shirt over
my hands, still a bit chilled.
The house
was dimly lit, but there was enough light for me to still see. The Christmas
tree stood next to me, infront of the large, front-room window. The little
multi-colored lights
that were spun around the branches glowed quite brightly
in the dark. There were brightly wrapped
presents sitting on the floor, under
the tree. In the next room, over the halfwall, the fireplace was
illuminated,
the fire burning slowly. I walked over to it and stared down, the vision of the
hot
flames jumping around in my eyes. No
wonder mom wanted me to rush home…, I thought,
almost getting lost in the
flames. She left the fire going…
I blinked a
few times, breaking the hold the fire had on me. I looked around the room and
what I could see of the room I had been in only a minute earlier. Why does this place seem so…
lonely and
unfamiliar? I looked down at the floor for a few seconds, then turned to go
into the
kitchen. When I clicked the light switch, only one of the four bulbs
lit up. I looked up at it for a
few seconds, but went over the counter. The
kettle was still on the stove, where I left it when I had
to suddenly run out
the door. I picked it up and filled it with cold tap water from the sink and
set
it back on the burner. I reached across the stove and set the dial on
medium-high, then went over
to a cabinet to set a mug on the counter. Once that
was done, I left the kitchen and went back to
my room. The heat of the house
was getting a little too warm for a sweater.
When I
opened the door and turned on the light; I had to squint. The light was bright;
I wasn’t
used to it, seeing how the house was still dark. I went into my closet
and pulled out a black miniskirt,
white opaque stockings, and a black shirt
with 3-quarter sleeves that barely hung off my shoulders.
After I had quickly
slipped into the clothes, I pulled my long, raven black hair into a loose
ponytail
and let it fall over my shoulder left shoulder. I looked at myself in
the mirror, that was nailed to the
wall, next to my bed. I noticed more angles
in my face than I usually do; I’d gotten thinner than I used
to be. It was
showing. The shadows on my pale skin were dark, almost making me look sickly.
The
black eyeliner around my dark eyes made my face look sad.
There was a
faint whistle, coming through my closed door. I turned, quickly, and opened the
burgundy colored door. Once I stepped out, I turned off the light, pulled the
door closed, and walked
back into the kitchen, where steam was rising from the
kettle. I grabbed a towel with one hand and
put it on the burning hot handle,
then moved the kettle to a cool burner. I dropped the towel on the
counter
beside the stove and turned the glowing burner off. When I looked back at the
pot, I sighed,
realizing I shouldn’t have put the towel on the opposite
counter. I reached over the stove to pick the
towel up and placed one hand on
the stove, my fingertips touching the hot burner. I gasped and stood
up straight,
looking at the redness forming on my fingers.
Before I
could go over to the sink and put my hand under cold water, I heard a light
knock
on the door. I looked up and started walking towards the front room.
Since the Christmas tree was
in the way, I could look out the big window to see
who it was, like I usually do. I unlocked the door
and opened it to see
someone, taller than me, standing in the doorway, with the screen door propped
open against his back. The hood of his hoodie was up, covering most of his face
in shadows. His hands
were stuffed in his pockets and his breath was white,
puffing out from his mouth. I felt the cold from
outside on my chest and moved
out of the way quickly to let him come inside. Once I had closed the
door
again, he removed his hands from his pockets, revealing his black fingerless
gloves. They had a
skeleton hand design on each glove. He moved his hands up
and pushed his hood off is head. His long,
dyed black hair fell over his
shoulders, and his silver lip piercings reflected the colored lights on the
tree.
He unzipped his hoodie and slipped it off, then dropped it on the hook
next to my coat. He removed
his gloves as well and placed them in the
over-sized pockets of his baggy, black, cargo pants. When
he stood up straight,
he looked down at me.
“Kayla…”
His voice was deep. It sent chills down my back and I shivered a little. He put
his hand under my chin and moved my head up gently. I felt his eyes inspecting
my face. When he
was done, he released my chin. I threw my arms around him,
hugging him tightly. He wrapped his
arms around my waist and held me against
him. I closed my eyes.
“I missed
you, Jeremy,” I said, quietly.
“You know I
missed you.” He released my body and and took one of my hands in one of
his. He
put his other hand on the back of my head, his fingers slipping into my hair,
and pulled my face
close to his. My heart started beating hard in my chest and
I closed my eyes. He pressed his lips against
mine, hard. I felt the cold metal
of his piercing against my skin but kissed him back. After a few seconds,
he
bent down a little and picked me up, one hand on my back, then other support my
legs. I giggled
and wrapped my arms around his neck.
He walked over to the fire-lit
family room, with me still in his arms. Carefully, he sat down on
the floor,
infront of the fire, leaned his back against the couch, gently placed me in his
lap. I moved my
hands away from his neck and laid my head down on his chest. I smiled
softly and closed my eyes again,
relaxing. He pulled the thin hair tie out and
let me black locks fall over my back. He put one arm around
my waist, holding
my tightly. His other hand petted my hair lightly.
“I’m so happy to see you, Jeremy…”
I couldn’t see his face but I could tell he was smiling.
“Merry Christmas, Kayla.” |
